How can cloud computing benefit the public sector

The public sector is facing dramatic cuts to many budgets as a result of the economic downturn, placing a focus on getting more for less.

Therefore, the introduction of cloud is arriving at the perfect time, as greater services are available for lower amounts of cash.

The cuts come at the same time as growing demands for better and more efficient services, so these demands for innovative ends are resulting in more public sector bosses turning to cloud.

It offers them a viable solution to reach their goals as services can be procured in a more cost effective manner.

Coinciding with this is an ability to share data and services in an easier fashion while publically held information can be made even more accessible for business and the general public.

Clear and precise planning

This benefits those who deal with any information requests as their time is freed up to focus on delivering better standards of information to those who require it.

Many governments will expect clear and precise plans of action from their public bodies, and the introduction of cloud solutions enables these plans to be carefully monitored and tweaked if necessary.

The focus revolves around delivering the services across a multitude of platforms as this should enable more issues to be dealt with in the desired fashion.

Government projects

The G-Cloud government project, launched around 18 months ago, was set up to enable the public sector, and those who work with it, the chance to benefit from a cloud procurement platform

Those in the public sector can buy commoditised IT products from a pre-approved list of vendors, making it an efficient means of IT procurement.

This results in a focus on making things simpler, quicker and cheaper while matching the various business requirements of those involved.

Readily available data

The government is working with the Open Data Institute in East London to make data more readily available.

Officials at the top will no doubt be hoping that the various initiatives will enable public sector companies to experience the many benefits of a cloud environment.

This article was written by Emma Rushworth, Liquid Accounts Marketing.  Liquid Accounts is a multi-award winning cloud accounting software package aimed at SME businesses, accountants & bookkeepers.  For more information please visit our homepage or call Liquid Accounts on 0845 450 7304.